We are starting a series of articles about problems and outdated concepts in the school curriculum and suggest discussing why schoolchildren need physics, and why today it is not taught the way we would like.

Why does a modern student study physics? Either so that parents and teachers do not bother him, or then, in order to successfully pass the exam of his choice, score the required number of points and enter a good university. There is another option that a student loves physics, but this love usually exists somehow separately from the school curriculum.

In any of these cases, teaching is conducted according to the same scheme. It adapts to the system of its own control - knowledge must be presented in such a form that it can be easily verified. For this, there is a system of GIA and the Unified State Examination, and as a result, preparation for these exams becomes the main goal of training.

How is the Unified State Examination in Physics arranged in its current version? Exam tasks are compiled according to a special codifier, which includes formulas that, in theory, every student should know. This is about a hundred formulas for all sections of the school curriculum - from kinematics to nuclear physics.

Most of the tasks - somewhere around 80% - are aimed precisely at the application of these formulas. Moreover, other methods of solving cannot be used: I substituted a formula that is not in the list - I did not receive a certain number of points, even if the answer converged. And only the remaining 20% ​​are comprehension tasks.

As a result, the main goal of teaching is to ensure that students know this set of formulas and can apply it. And all physics comes down to simple combinatorics: read the conditions of the problem, understand what formula you need, substitute the necessary indicators and just get the result.

In elite and specialized physical and mathematical schools, education, of course, is arranged differently. There, as in preparation for all kinds of olympiads, there is some element of creativity, and the combinatorics of formulas becomes much more complicated. But here we are interested in the basic program in physics and its shortcomings.

Standard tasks and abstract theoretical constructions that an ordinary schoolchild should know are very quickly eroded from his head. As a result, no one knows physics after graduation from school - except for the minority who for some reason are interested in it or need it in their specialty.

It turns out that science, the main goal of which was the knowledge of nature and the real physical world, at school becomes utterly abstract and remote from everyday human experience. Physics, like other subjects, is taught by cramming, and when in high school the amount of knowledge that needs to be learned increases dramatically, it becomes simply impossible to memorize everything.

Clearly about the "formula" approach to learning.

But this would not be necessary if the goal of learning was not the application of formulas, but the understanding of the subject. Understanding is ultimately much easier than cramming.

Form a picture of the world

Let's see, for example, how Yakov Perelman's books "Entertaining Physics", "Entertaining Mathematics", which many generations of schoolchildren and post-school children have been reading. Almost every paragraph of Perlman's "Physics" teaches to ask questions that every child can ask himself, starting from elementary logic and everyday experience.

The tasks that we are offered to solve here are not quantitative, but qualitative: we need not to calculate some abstract indicator like efficiency, but to reflect on why a perpetual motion machine is impossible in reality, is it possible to shoot from a cannon to the moon; you need to conduct an experiment and evaluate what the effect of any physical interaction will be.

An example from "Entertaining Physics" 1932: the problem of Krylov's swan, crayfish and pike, solved according to the rules of mechanics. The resultant (OD) should carry the cart into the water.

In a word, it is not necessary to memorize the formulas here - the main thing is to understand what physical laws objects of the surrounding reality obey. The only problem is that knowledge of this kind is much more difficult to objectively verify than the presence in the head of a student of a precisely defined set of formulas and equations.

Therefore, physics for an ordinary student turns into a dull cramming, and at best - some kind of abstract game of the mind. Forming a complete picture of the world in a person is not at all the task that the modern education system performs de facto. In this regard, by the way, it is not too different from the Soviet one, which many tend to overestimate (because earlier we supposedly developed atomic bombs and flew into space, but now we only know how to sell oil).

According to the knowledge of physics, students after graduation now, as then, are divided into approximately two categories: those who know it very well, and those who do not know it at all. With the second category, the situation worsened especially when the time for teaching physics in grades 7-11 was reduced from 5 to 2 hours a week.

Most schoolchildren really do not need physical formulas and theories (which they understand very well), and most importantly, they are not interested in the abstract and dry form in which they are presented now. As a result, mass education does not perform any function - it only takes time and effort. Schoolchildren have no less than teachers.

Attention: the wrong approach to teaching science can be devastating

If the task of the school curriculum was to form a picture of the world, the situation would be completely different.

Of course, there should also be specialized classes where they teach how to solve complex problems and deeply acquaint themselves with the theory, which no longer intersects with everyday experience. But it would be more interesting and useful for an ordinary, “mass” schoolchild to know what laws the physical world in which he lives in works.

The matter, of course, does not boil down to the fact that schoolchildren read Perelman instead of textbooks. We need to change our approach to teaching. Many sections (for example, quantum mechanics) could be removed from the school curriculum, others could be reduced or revised, if not for the ubiquitous organizational difficulties, the fundamental conservatism of the subject and the educational system as a whole.

But let us dream a little. After these changes, perhaps, the general social adequacy would also increase: people would be less likely to trust all sorts of torsion swindlers who speculate on the "protection of the biofield" and "normalization of the aura" with the help of simple devices and pieces of unknown minerals.

We already observed all these consequences of a vicious education system in the 90s, when the most successful swindlers even used considerable sums from the state budget, and we are observing now, although on a smaller scale.

The famous Grigory Grabovoi not only assured that he could resurrect people, but also removed asteroids from the Earth with the power of thought and “psychically diagnosed” government aircraft. He was patronized not by anyone, but by General Georgy Rogozin, deputy head of the Security Service under the President of the Russian Federation.

How to prepare for the exam in physics? And does a diligent student need any special training?

“Five in physics school. We go to courses. What else does? After all, physics is not literature, where you have to read 100 books before writing an essay. Everything is simple here: you substitute the numbers in the formula - you get your points.

This is how short-sighted parents and students usually argue. "For the sake of order" attend preparatory courses at the university. A month before the exam, they turn to the tutor: “Get us trained before the exam and show us how to solve typical problems.” And suddenly a bolt from the blue - low scores on the exam in physics. Why? Who is guilty? Maybe a tutor?

It turns out that the school five in physics was worth nothing! It is not difficult to get it - read a paragraph in the textbook, raise your hand in class, make a report on the topic "Lomonosov's Life" - and you're done. They don't teach physics problems in school., and the exam in this subject almost entirely consists of tasks.

It turns out that there is practically no physical experiment at school. The student imagines a capacitor or a loop with current as his fantasy tells him. Obviously, each fantasy suggests something different.

It turns out that in many schools in Moscow there is no physics at all. Often students report: “But we have a historian who conducts physics. And our physicist was ill for a year, and then emigrated.”

Physics was somewhere in the backyard of school education! It has long turned into a secondary subject, something like life safety or natural history.
At school with physics - a real disaster.

Our society is already feeling the consequences of this catastrophe. There is an acute shortage of specialists - engineers, builders, designers. man-made accidents. The inability of personnel to manage even with the equipment that was built in the Soviet era. And at the same time - an overabundance of people with degrees in economics, law or "marketing manager".

Many go to engineering specialties only because there is a low competition. “It won’t work at MGIMO, we don’t want to join the army, so we’ll go to the MAI, we’ll have to prepare for the Unified State Exam in physics.” So they are preparing with a creak, skipping classes and wondering: why are these tasks not being solved?

This doesn't apply to you, does it?

Physics is a real science. Beautiful. Paradoxical. And very interesting. It is impossible to "pull" here - one must study physics itself as a science.

There are no "typical" USE tasks. There are no magic "formulas" in which you need to substitute something. Physics is understanding at the level of ideas. It is a coherent system of complex ideas about how the world works..

If you decide to prepare for the exam in physics and enter a technical university, tune in to serious work.

Here are some practical tips:

Tip 1.
Start preparing for the exam in physics in advance. Two years, that is, grades 10 and 11, is the optimal period of preparation. In one academic year, you can still have time to do something. And start two months before the exam - count on a maximum of 50 points.

We immediately warn against self-preparation. Solving problems in physics is a skill. Moreover, it is an art that can only be learned under the guidance of a master - an experienced tutor.

Tip 2.
Physics is impossible without mathematics. If you have gaps in mathematical preparation, eliminate them immediately. Do you know if you have these gaps? Easy to check. If you can’t decompose a vector into components, express an unknown value from a formula, or solve an equation, then do math.

After all, the solution of many USE problems in physics ends with a numerical answer. You need a non-programmable calculator with sines and logarithms. An office calculator with four steps or a calculator in a mobile phone is not good.
Buy a non-programmable calculator at the very beginning of training to master it at the level of automaticity. Bring each problem you solve to the end, that is, to the correct numerical answer.

What are the best books to prepare for the exam in physics?

1. Rymkevich's assignment.

It contains many simple tasks that are good to get your hands on. After "Rymkevich" the formulas are remembered by themselves, and the problems of part A are solved without difficulty.

2. Some more useful books:
Bendrikov G. A., Bukhovtsev B. B., Kerzhentsev V. V., Myakishev G. Ya. Problems in physics for applicants to universities.
Bakanina L. P., Belonuchkin V. E., Kozel S. M. Collection of problems in physics: For grades 10–11 with in-depth study of physics.
Parfent'eva N. A. Collection of problems in physics. 10-11 grade.

The most important thing. In order to successfully prepare for the exam in physics, you must clearly understand why you need it. After all, not only in order to pass the exam, to enter and hang out from the army?
A possible answer might be this. It is necessary to prepare for the Unified State Exam in physics in order to become a highly qualified, sought-after specialist in the future. Moreover, knowledge of physics will help you become a truly educated person.

To succeed in the physics exam, you need to be attentive in the classroom, study new material regularly, and have a deep enough understanding of the basic ideas and principles. To do this, you can use several methods and collaborate with classmates to consolidate knowledge. In addition, it is important to have a good rest and a good snack before the exam, as well as to remain calm during it. If you studied well before the exam, you can pass it without any problems.

Steps

How to get the most out of class

Start studying the material you have covered a few days or weeks before the exam. It is unlikely that you will pass the exam normally if you start preparing for it on the last evening. Schedule time to study and consolidate the material and solve practical problems a few days or even weeks before the exam so that you have time to properly prepare for it.

• Try to master the necessary material as best as possible in order to feel confident during the exam.

1. Review the topics that may come up on the exam. Most likely, it was these topics that you have recently covered in class, and you were given homework on them. Review the notes you took in class and try to memorize the basic formulas and concepts that you may need to take the exam.

2. Read the textbook before class. Familiarize yourself with the relevant topic in advance so that you can better absorb the material during the lesson. Many physical principles are based on what you have studied before. Identify any points you don't understand and write down questions to ask your teacher.

   • For example, if you have already learned how to determine the speed, it is likely that in the next step you will learn how to calculate the average acceleration. Read the relevant section of the textbook in advance to better understand the material.

3. Solve problems at home. After every hour of school, spend at least 2-3 hours memorizing new formulas and learning how to use them. This repetition will help you absorb new ideas better and learn how to solve problems that may appear on the exam.

   • If desired, you can note the time to reproduce the conditions of the upcoming exam.

4. Review and correct your homework. Review completed homework and try to re-solve any problems that caused you difficulty or were not completed correctly. Keep in mind that many teachers ask the same questions and tasks in the exam that they met in homework.

   • Even correctly completed assignments should be reviewed in order to consolidate the material covered.

5. Attend all classes and be careful. In physics, new ideas and concepts are built on previous knowledge, which is why it is so important not to miss lessons and study regularly, otherwise you can fall behind others. If you can't attend a class, be sure to get your notes and read the appropriate section in your textbook.

   • If you are unable to attend classes due to an emergency or illness, ask your teacher what material you need to learn.

6. Use flashcards to better remember various terms and formulas. Write the name of the physical law on one side of the card, and the corresponding formula on the other. Have someone read the name of the formula aloud, and then try to spell it correctly.

   • For example, you can write “speed” on one side of the card, and write the corresponding formula on the other: “v = s / t”.
   • You can write "Newton's second law" on one side of the card, and write the corresponding formula on the other: "∑F = ma".

7. Recall what caused you the most problems in past exams. If you have already written tests or taken exams before, you need to pay special attention to those topics that caused you difficulty. In this way, you will tighten up your weak points and be able to get a higher score.

   • It is especially useful to do this before the final exams, which evaluate knowledge in many areas of physics.

How to prepare for an exam

1. Sleep the night before the exam 7–8 hours . It is necessary to get enough sleep in order to more easily remember the material covered and find the right solutions to problems. If you cram all night and do not rest, then the next morning you will not remember well what you learned the day before.

   • Even if the exam is scheduled for the middle of the day, it is better to get up early and prepare in advance.
   • In physics, increased attention and critical thinking are required, so it is better to come to the exam well-rested and well-rested.
   • Follow the usual sleep schedule - this will allow you to consolidate the knowledge gained.

2. Eat a good breakfast on the day of the exam. For breakfast, it is good to eat foods rich in slow-digesting carbohydrates, such as oatmeal or whole grain bread, to help you perform more effectively during the exam. You should also eat protein foods such as eggs, yogurt or milk to keep you full longer. Finally, give your body an extra boost of energy by rounding off your breakfast with fruits that are high in dietary fiber, such as apples, bananas or pears.

   • A healthy, hearty breakfast before an exam will help you remember what you've learned.

Basic formulas in physics, explanations of the formulas, the school curriculum and further education, helping the student in studying physics, the practical application of f...

Basic formulas in physics for grade 9. Everything you need to know!

By Masterweb

05.06.2018 14:00

Physics is a rigorous technical science. Sometimes not everyone manages to keep up in this discipline during their school years. Moreover, not every student has a logical and technical mindset, and physics at school is forced to teach absolutely everyone. Formulas from the textbook may not fit in the head. In this article, we will consider the basic formulas in physics for grade 9 in mechanics.

Mechanics

It’s worth starting with the most basic and simplest laws in physics. As you know, such an extensive topic as mechanics consists of three paragraphs:

1. Statics.
2. Dynamics.
3. Kinematics.

Kinematics is studied in grade 10, so we will not consider it within the framework of this article.

Statics

It should be studied sequentially, starting with simple formulas of statics. Namely, from the formulas of pressure, the moment of inertia of bodies of revolution and the moment of force. Formulas in physics grade 9 with explanations will be clearly presented below.

Pressure is a measure of the force acting on the surface area of ​​a body, measured in Pascals. Pressure is calculated as the ratio of force to area, so the formula will look as simple as possible:

The moment of inertia of bodies of revolution is a measure of inertia in the rotational motion of a body around itself, or, strictly speaking, the product of the body's mass and its squared radius. The corresponding formula is:

The moment of force (or, as many people call it, the rotational moment) is the force applied to a rigid body and creating rotation. This is a vector quantity, which can also have a negative sign, measured in meters multiplied by Newton. In the canonical representation, the formula implies the product of the force applied to the body and the distance (shoulder of the force), the formula:

Dynamics

Formulas in physics grades 7-9 with explanations on dynamics - our next step. Actually, this is the largest and most significant section of mechanics. All bodies are subject to movement, even being at rest, some forces act on them, provoking movement. Important concepts to learn before understanding dynamics are path, velocity, acceleration, and mass.

The first step, of course, is to study Newton's laws.

Newton's first law is a definition without a formula. It says that the body is either at rest or moves, but only after all the forces concentrated on it are balanced.

Newton's second and most famous law states that the acceleration of a body depends on the force applied to it. The formula also includes the mass of the object to which the force is applied.

Please note that the formula above is written in scalar form - force and acceleration in vector can have a negative sign, this must be taken into account.

Newton's third law: the force of action is equal to the force of reaction. All you need to know from this law is that each force has the same force in opposition, only directed in the opposite direction, thus maintaining a balance on our planet.

Now let's consider other forces acting within the framework of dynamics, and these are the force of gravity, elasticity, friction and the force of rolling friction. All of them are vectorial and can be directed in any direction, and together they are able to form systems: add and subtract, multiply or divide. If the forces are not directed parallel to each other, then the calculation will need to use the cosine of the angle between them.

The 9th grade physics formulas also include in their program the law of universal gravitation and cosmic velocities, which every student should know.

The law of universal gravitation is the law of Isaac Newton, already notorious to us, appearing in his classical theory. In fact, it turned out to be revolutionary: the law states that any body located in the Earth's gravitational field is attracted to its core. And indeed it is.

space speeds

The first cosmic velocity is necessary to enter the Earth's orbit (numerically equal to 7.9 km / s), and the second cosmic velocity is needed to overcome the gravitational attraction in order to go not only beyond the orbit, but also allow the object to move in a non-circular trajectory. It is equal to 11.2 km / s, respectively. It is important that both cosmic speeds were overcome by mankind, and thanks to them, flights into space are possible today. Physics formulas for grade 9 do not imply third and fourth cosmic velocities, but they also exist.

Conclusion

In this article, the basic formulas in physics for grade 9 were considered. Their study opens up opportunities for the student to learn more complex sections of physics, such as electricity, magnetism, sound or molecular theory. Without knowing mechanics, it is impossible to understand the rest of physics, mechanics is a fundamental part of this science today. Formulas in physics for grade 9 are also necessary for passing the state exam in physics, their summary and spelling must be known to every 9th grade graduate entering a technical college. Remembering them is not difficult.

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Scientists from planet Earth use a ton of tools to try to describe how nature and the universe as a whole work. That they come to laws and theories. What is the difference? A scientific law can often be reduced to a mathematical statement, like E = mc²; this statement is based on empirical data and its truth, as a rule, is limited to a certain set of conditions. In the case of E = mc² - the speed of light in vacuum.

A scientific theory often seeks to synthesize a set of facts or observations of specific phenomena. And in general (but not always) there is a clear and verifiable statement about how nature functions. It is not at all necessary to reduce scientific theory to an equation, but it does represent something fundamental about the workings of nature.

Both laws and theories depend on the basic elements of the scientific method, such as making hypotheses, doing experiments, finding (or not finding) empirical evidence, and drawing conclusions. After all, scientists must be able to replicate results if the experiment is to become the basis for a generally accepted law or theory.

In this article, we'll look at ten scientific laws and theories that you can brush up on even if you don't use a scanning electron microscope that often, for example. Let's start with an explosion and end with uncertainty.

If it is worth knowing at least one scientific theory, then let it explain how the universe reached its current state (or did not reach it). Based on studies by Edwin Hubble, Georges Lemaitre, and Albert Einstein, the Big Bang theory postulates that the universe began 14 billion years ago with a massive expansion. At some point, the universe was enclosed in one point and encompassed all the matter of the current universe. This movement continues to this day, and the universe itself is constantly expanding.

The Big Bang theory gained widespread support in scientific circles after Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson discovered the cosmic microwave background in 1965. Using radio telescopes, two astronomers have detected cosmic noise, or static, that does not dissipate over time. In collaboration with Princeton researcher Robert Dicke, the pair of scientists confirmed Dicke's hypothesis that the original Big Bang left behind low-level radiation that can be found throughout the universe.

Hubble's Cosmic Expansion Law

Let's hold Edwin Hubble for a second. While the Great Depression was raging in the 1920s, Hubble was performing groundbreaking astronomical research. Not only did he prove that there were other galaxies besides the Milky Way, but he also found that these galaxies were rushing away from our own, a movement he called receding.

In order to quantify the speed of this galactic motion, Hubble proposed the law of cosmic expansion, aka Hubble's law. The equation looks like this: speed = H0 x distance. Velocity is the speed of the recession of galaxies; H0 is the Hubble constant, or a parameter that indicates the expansion rate of the universe; distance is the distance of one galaxy to the one with which the comparison is made.

The Hubble constant has been calculated at different values ​​for quite some time, but it is currently stuck at 70 km/s per megaparsec. For us it is not so important. The important thing is that the law is a convenient way to measure the speed of a galaxy relative to our own. And more importantly, the law established that the Universe consists of many galaxies, the movement of which can be traced to the Big Bang.

Kepler's laws of planetary motion

For centuries, scientists have battled each other and religious leaders over the orbits of the planets, especially whether they revolve around the sun. In the 16th century, Copernicus put forward his controversial concept of a heliocentric solar system, in which the planets revolve around the sun rather than the earth. However, it was not until Johannes Kepler, who drew on the work of Tycho Brahe and other astronomers, that a clear scientific basis for planetary motion emerged.

Kepler's three laws of planetary motion, developed in the early 17th century, describe the movement of planets around the sun. The first law, sometimes called the law of orbits, states that the planets revolve around the Sun in an elliptical orbit. The second law, the law of areas, says that the line connecting the planet to the sun forms equal areas at regular intervals. In other words, if you measure the area created by a drawn line from the Earth to the Sun and track the movement of the Earth for 30 days, the area will be the same regardless of the position of the Earth relative to the origin.

The third law, the law of periods, allows you to establish a clear relationship between the orbital period of the planet and the distance to the Sun. Thanks to this law, we know that a planet that is relatively close to the Sun, like Venus, has a much shorter orbital period than distant planets like Neptune.

Universal law of gravity

This may be par for the course today, but more than 300 years ago, Sir Isaac Newton proposed a revolutionary idea: any two objects, regardless of their mass, exert a gravitational attraction on each other. This law is represented by an equation that many schoolchildren encounter in the senior grades of physics and mathematics.

F = G × [(m1m2)/r²]

F is the gravitational force between two objects, measured in newtons. M1 and M2 are the masses of the two objects, while r is the distance between them. G is the gravitational constant, currently calculated as 6.67384(80) 10 −11 or N m² kg −2 .

The advantage of the universal law of gravity is that it allows you to calculate the gravitational attraction between any two objects. This ability is extremely useful when scientists, for example, launch a satellite into orbit or determine the course of the moon.

Newton's laws

While we're on the subject of one of the greatest scientists ever to live on Earth, let's talk about Newton's other famous laws. His three laws of motion form an essential part of modern physics. And like many other laws of physics, they are elegant in their simplicity.

The first of the three laws states that an object in motion remains in motion unless it is acted upon by an external force. For a ball rolling on the floor, the external force could be friction between the ball and the floor, or a boy hitting the ball in the other direction.

The second law establishes a relationship between the mass of an object (m) and its acceleration (a) in the form of the equation F = m x a. F is a force measured in newtons. It is also a vector, meaning it has a directional component. Due to the acceleration, the ball that rolls on the floor has a special vector in the direction of its movement, and this is taken into account when calculating the force.

The third law is quite meaningful and should be familiar to you: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. That is, for every force applied to an object on the surface, the object is repelled with the same force.

Laws of thermodynamics

The British physicist and writer C.P. Snow once said that an unscientist who did not know the second law of thermodynamics was like a scientist who had never read Shakespeare. Snow's now famous statement emphasized the importance of thermodynamics and the need even for people far from science to know it.

Thermodynamics is the science of how energy works in a system, whether it be an engine or the Earth's core. It can be reduced to a few basic laws, which Snow outlined as follows:

• You cannot win.
• You will not avoid losses.
• You cannot exit the game.

Let's look into this a bit. What Snow meant by saying you can't win is that since matter and energy are conserved, you can't gain one without losing the other (that is, E=mc²). It also means that you need to supply heat to run the engine, but in the absence of a perfectly closed system, some heat will inevitably escape into the open world, leading to the second law.

The second law - losses are inevitable - means that due to increasing entropy, you cannot return to the previous energy state. Energy concentrated in one place will always tend to places of lower concentration.

Finally, the third law - you can't get out of the game - refers to the lowest theoretically possible temperature - minus 273.15 degrees Celsius. When the system reaches absolute zero, the movement of molecules stops, which means that entropy will reach its lowest value and there will not even be kinetic energy. But in the real world it is impossible to reach absolute zero - only very close to it.

Strength of Archimedes

After the ancient Greek Archimedes discovered his principle of buoyancy, he allegedly shouted "Eureka!" (Found!) and ran naked through Syracuse. So says the legend. The discovery was so important. Legend also says that Archimedes discovered the principle when he noticed that the water in the bathtub rises when a body is immersed in it.

According to Archimedes' principle of buoyancy, the force acting on a submerged or partially submerged object is equal to the mass of fluid that the object displaces. This principle is of paramount importance in density calculations, as well as in the design of submarines and other ocean-going vessels.

Evolution and natural selection

Now that we have established some of the basic concepts of how the universe began and how physical laws affect our daily lives, let's turn our attention to the human form and find out how we got to this point. According to most scientists, all life on Earth has a common ancestor. But in order to form such a huge difference between all living organisms, some of them had to turn into a separate species.

In a general sense, this differentiation has occurred in the process of evolution. Populations of organisms and their traits have gone through mechanisms such as mutations. Those with more survival traits, like brown frogs that camouflage themselves in swamps, were naturally selected for survival. This is where the term natural selection comes from.

You can multiply these two theories by many, many times, and actually Darwin did this in the 19th century. Evolution and natural selection explain the enormous diversity of life on Earth.

General theory of relativity

Albert Einstein was and remains the most important discovery that forever changed our view of the universe. Einstein's main breakthrough was the statement that space and time are not absolute, and gravity is not just a force applied to an object or mass. Rather, gravity has to do with the fact that mass warps space and time itself (spacetime).

To make sense of this, imagine that you are driving across the Earth in a straight line in an easterly direction from, say, the northern hemisphere. After a while, if someone wants to accurately determine your location, you will be much south and east of your original position. This is because the earth is curved. To drive straight east, you need to take into account the shape of the Earth and drive at an angle slightly north. Compare a round ball and a sheet of paper.

Space is pretty much the same. For example, it will be obvious to the passengers of a rocket flying around the Earth that they are flying in a straight line in space. But in reality, the space-time around them is curving under the force of Earth's gravity, causing them to both move forward and stay in Earth's orbit.

Einstein's theory had a huge impact on the future of astrophysics and cosmology. She explained a small and unexpected anomaly in Mercury's orbit, showed how starlight bends, and laid the theoretical foundations for black holes.

Heisenberg uncertainty principle

Einstein's expansion of relativity taught us more about how the universe works and helped lay the groundwork for quantum physics, leading to a completely unexpected embarrassment of theoretical science. In 1927, the realization that all the laws of the universe are flexible in a certain context led to the startling discovery of the German scientist Werner Heisenberg.

Postulating his uncertainty principle, Heisenberg realized that it was impossible to know two properties of a particle simultaneously with a high level of accuracy. You can know the position of an electron with a high degree of accuracy, but not its momentum, and vice versa.

Later, Niels Bohr made a discovery that helped explain the Heisenberg principle. Bohr found that the electron has the qualities of both a particle and a wave. The concept became known as wave-particle duality and formed the basis of quantum physics. Therefore, when we measure the position of an electron, we define it as a particle at a certain point in space with an indefinite wavelength. When we measure the momentum, we consider the electron as a wave, which means we can know the amplitude of its length, but not the position.